Business owners on a parade of shops in Harrogate are getting ready for a rare royal visit.
Anne, Princess Royal will be dropping in on Prince Albert Row – which is named after her great-great-great-grandfather – at the top end of Station Parade.
The Grade II listed buildings are home to some of Harrogate’s longest-established and respected businesses, including Woods Fine Linen, which has supplied royal households since it was founded in 1895.
William Woods, of Woods Fine Linen, said:
“Prince Albert Row is such a beautiful part of Harrogate and somewhere we are incredibly proud to be a part of. It is truly is a great honour to be welcoming Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal and to be sharing this experience with our neighbours and friends.”
In preparation for the visit, which will take place on Wednesday, September 20, retailers led by Woods have produced a leaflet highlighting the businesses on Prince Albert Row, which has been distributed to hotels and tourist information centres across the region.
The Harrogate BID and Harrogate Chamber of Commerce have also been ensuring the row of shops looks its best, sprucing up exteriors and giving street furniture a new lick of paint.
Matthew Chapman, Harrogate BID manager, said:
“We’re pleased to be supporting the royal visit through our in-house street ranger repainting street furniture, presenting additional floral displays on Prince Albert Row, as well as helping the businesses distribute their new leaflet.
“The royal visit is certain to further shine a spotlight on Prince Albert Row and Harrogate as a great place to visit, for its beautiful buildings as well as fantastic shops.”
Martin Mann, acting chief executive of Harrogate District. Chamber of Commerce, added:
“We are all looking forward to welcoming the Princess Royal to Harrogate and working together to ensure she gets to see Harrogate at our best.”
Pictured above: Left to right: Helen James of Helen James Flowers; Jonathan Woods, director of Woods of Harrogate; Matthew Chapman, manager of Harrogate BID; Francesca MacLaverty of Woods Fine Linen; Martin Mann of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce; Gillian Vincent of Rigby & Peller; Stephen Gee of Stephen Neall Interiors; Sarah Woods, director of William Woods Interiors; Richard Staples of Bang & Olufsen; and Jesper Callisa, owner of Jespers Bar & Kitchen.
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‘I chatted to the Queen in the back of a Range Rover’: Her Majesty’s many visits to the district
The links between the Queen and the Harrogate district stretch back decades, including a visit in 1952 before her coronation.
From her appearances at the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate to her trips to Ripon, including her 2004 visit for another important anniversary – 400 years since the granting of the city’s Royal Charter.
Former director of the Great Yorkshire Show, Bill Cowling, described chaperoning the Queen’s during her last visit in 2008 as one of the highlights of his career.
Royal visit
He told the Stray Ferret:
“The show makes requests for royal visits, sometimes more than a year in advance. It was agreed that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh would come to the show to mark its 150th anniversary.
“Everything was going ahead, plans were progressing. Then an MP called David Davies fell out with the Conservative party, so he resigned his seat and a by-election was called.
“After attending the show in the morning, the Queen and the Duke were then meant to be going to Hull to open a hospital. But due to protocol, the by-election meant the Monarch could not go into an area where this was taking place.
“We thought this meant we had lost our royal visit. But after a week or so, we got a phone call from the palace to say they had been talking it over and they wondered if the Queen and Duke could stop for longer at the Great Yorkshire Show. So in the end the royal visit was for more than five hours!”
HM The Queen arriving in Harrogate for the Great Yorkshire Show in 1957.
Mr Cowling remembered that as the Queen was getting older, it was decided that they would drive to the far end of the showground and walk back.
‘An absolute expert’
He said:
“I never thought I would be sat in the back of a Range Rover with the Queen. You don’t think these things are going to happen.
“She is an absolute expert and makes people who are meeting her comfortable and at home and relaxed.
“One of the things we spoke about was that they had had a garden party at the palace the day before. She said the wet weather had made a bit of a mess of the lawn. She was very down to earth.”
The Queen at the Great Yorkshire Show in 1957.
Mr Cowling said on the walk back she spoke to lots of people at the event.
He said:
“She always gives everybody the full treatment as it were. Everyone will feel like they are the most important person on that visit. That is why she is so expert at putting people at their ease and showing an interest in what they are showing or doing.
“On the way back she also laid the foundation stone for Fodder, which was being built at that time.”
The Queen unveiling a plaque to commemorate the start of work on the Regional Agricultural Centre in 2008.
Mr Cowling said many things stood out about her visit, but he remembered one particular conversation.
The most wonderful visit
He said:
“We stayed for lunch at the show in the president’s pavilion, which is upstairs. The carpet is quite a light colour. The ground conditions were quite muddy and there were a few muddy footprints on the carpet and she turned to me and said “don’t worry it will vac out” It was absolutely out of the blue and so natural.
“It was the most wonderful visit and we were so lucky. In the end we were thanking David Davies for calling a by-election!”
Mr Cowling said he had to “pinch himself” when he saw her on TV after spending so much time with her.
He said:
“It’s a huge honour for the Harrogate region that she comes and shows such an interest.
“We will definitely be raising a glass or two to her this weekend.”
Harrogate Conference Centre
Other visits from the Queen, include the Harrogate Conference Centre in the mid 1980s, where she was the guest of honour at a gala concert in aid of Y Care.
Performers included AHA, Rory Bremner and Wayne Sleep. Terry Waite, who was prominent in the Anglican Church, was also present on behalf of Y Care.
On Thursday, April 4,1985, the Queen and Prince Philip visited Harrogate on the Royal Train and did a 20-minute walkabout in front of the station, where they met members of the public and various charities, including St George’s Home, on Otley Road.
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They then went on in a royal convey to Ripon Cathedral where the Queen gave out Maundy Money to local parishioners and church volunteers.
Sun Pavilion
In 1998 the Queen re-opened the Sun Pavilion in Harrogate following its restoration. The Sun Pavilion and Colonnade has recently been given Grade II listed status as part of the Queen’s platinum jubilee.
Ripon
On May 27, 2004, the Queen and Prince Philip visited Ripon to mark the 400th anniversary of the city’s Royal Charter, granted by James I in 1604.
As well as visiting Ripon Town Hall, where they stood on the balcony to wave to the mass crowds, they also did a walkabout in Ripon Market Square and spoke with local residents and visitors.
The Queen and Prince Philip pictured in Ripon in 2004 when Cllr Stuart Martin and his wife April, were the mayor and mayoress of the city
In her long 70 year reign the Queen has touched many hearts in the district. The memories of those who have met her on those very special occasions will stay with them forever.
The Queen at the Great Yorkshire Show in 1977.
The Princess Royal is to attend this year’s Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate.
Princess Anne will attend on the first day of the four-day show, Tuesday, July 12. She has visited the show numerous times, most recently in 2018.
She is patron of the Beef Shorthorn Cattle Society and the Shorthorn Society of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and will be attending to celebrate 200 years of the Shorthorn breed.
The Tuesday will include a celebration day of the Shorthorn breed. Some 200 Shorthorns will participate in a parade at the showground.
Show director Charles Mills said:
“We are honoured that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal will be visiting the Great Yorkshire Show and I shall be proud to accompany her throughout.
“This will be a very special year for the Shorthorn breed and a what better way to mark the anniversary than with a visit from their patron and a wonderful royal visitor.”
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The farming and countryside showcase expects to welcome around 35,000 visitors each day to watch competitive classes, animal showcases and to sample to local produce in the food hall.